Teatopia

Completely rude, selfish girl

I ventured out to the mall today with my sister and two kiddos (always an adventure). I dropped off my rings to get them re-sized because my fingers are fatter since having Liam and I think they wouldn've gone down by now if they were going to. I also got some fall clothes for the kids, and ate a completely fattening lunch in the Food Court. (anyone have a Sarku near them? Soooo good!)

Anyway, Liam was getting really fussy and hungry and Olivia pooped (hasn't wanted to use the potty since surgery, but I hear that's normal) so I needed a place to take care of the kids. We needed to go into Victoria's Secret to get a gift for a friend, but we headed to the back first to get a dressing room for me to feed Liam and change Olivia. When we got to the back, there wasn't anyone back there to let us in, so we waited a minute for the girl to return, and two actually came back there. I asked one of them if I could have a room to nurse my son while my sister shopped and she said "sure!" Just then, a skinny blonde girl about 20 stuck her head out of the dressing room section. She had obviously been waiting back there for someone to let her in a room, so the sales girl went to let her in one first. The one sales girl said the other, "Make sure you save the handicapped room for the mother with the two kids. She's got a big stroller." And the skinny, blonde pipes up, "I want the big room!" The sales girl said, "Well, she's got two babies and a lot of stuff." Well, the blonde beeyotch-- who seriously was like 100 pounds and could've had more than enough room in a normal dressing room-- says, "but I was here first and I want the biggest room." The sales girls seriously couldn't believe it, and neither could my sister and I.

Yes, she was first, but so what? She didn't need such a large room. If it had been the other way around, I know I would've let the mom have the big room, even back when I was single and childless. It's just common decency.

I didn't say anything to her because technically, she was first. But I did say something to my sister once we got a room (next to the girl's) along the lines of, "Don't worry about her. Some people are just rude. It's sad really. She's obviously a nasty person who's not willing to bend for someone else."

It really just ticked me off. I was already having a hard time balancing the two kids and getting stuff done, and it just really made me upset.

Two things, well 3 actually . . .

1) Olivia is doing ok. She goes from running around and feeling good to being completely exhausted and in pain from being too active. I'm trying to keep her quiet, but it isn't easy. I can't restrain her physically. I just try to keep her interested in cartoons and drawing and reading books. It's hard though when I'm nursing Liam, which is often. She has a check-up tomorrow.

2) Is it sad that for my anniversary gift (which is this weekend) I wanted a custom diaper bag made specifically for cloth diapers? James laughed at my request, but it's something I always carry, so I wanted something cute that I liked! This is the fabric the WAHM is using to make it:

3) I wanted to share this picture of Olivia I took a few weeks ago. We were eating lunch in P@nera and I was feeding Liam (with a cover), so Olivia got out her dolly and started nursing her. I think a few years ago I might've thought it was weird to see a kid doing this, but now, I thought it was awesome. I love promoting breastfeeding! :-) She tells me often that when a baby comes out of her tummy, she'll feed it her "boof," which is what she called nursing and it's the term we've gotten used to using.

Olivia's Surgery

Olivia is home! Right now she's sleeping, so I thought I'd give you a quick update. The surgery went well, but she's been really irritable and fussy since she woke up.

We arrived at the hospital bright and early at 6:00 am. We waited a while for them to call us back and we briefly talked to the surgeon we waited. I think seeing the doctor again helped Olivia feel less scared. She was cheerful and talked to us and watched cartoons while I answered health questions. We played with the bubble gum scented mask we'd brought home to show her after registration a few days ago. She loved the smell and was excited she'd get to wear it again.

They wouldn't let my sister go back with her, which initially scared me, but the nurses were so sweet with her, that she seemed ok when it was time for us to leave. I actually ended up crying out of relief.

She was in surgery for about 40 minutes, and when we were allowed back to see her, she was whimpering and the nurses were holding her. Everyone wanted to hold her and talk to her because they thought she was so pretty. They all loved her hair and called her "Shirley Temple."

She was very irrational and restless at first and she kept hitting us and trying to rip out her IV, so they gave her Demoral and she went back to sleep. When she finally woke up, she was calmer and sweet. She's thrown up a lot though, which has made her upset, but they said that's normal from all the meds.

I'm curious how she'll feel when she wakes up. Please say prayers for her to heal well.

Thanks for all the well wishes!

Advice, please!

Can you please help me out with what to say to Olivia about the surgery? I used Margaret's* line about having a door inside her that needed to be closed, but we really haven't gone into any details yet. Should I tell her tomorrow night? Monday morning? What kind of details do I give? I don't want to tell her it's nothing, and then it hurts and she thinks I wasn't honest with her, but I don't want to scare her either.

If it was your child, what would you say?

*Margaret had her baby! Go wish her congratulations!

Beach Trip and life in general

We had a quick, but nice trip to the beach. It was good to get away as a family. Liam was amazingly easy and slept most of the time on the way there and back. I think another thing making it easier to take him out is my ease with breastfeeding. With Olivia, I always went back to my car to nurse her, but this time, I use my "Bebe Au Lait" and I use it everywhere: restaurants, stores, etc. I've had a couple odd looks, but for the most part, people just smile when they see I'm feedia baby. It's very discreet, and I'mfully prepaared to mouth off at anyone who is rude enough to say something, which I doubt will happen.

Anyway, Olivia had a blast. We couldn't take her in the ocan really because there were tons of jelly fish and they were hard to spot because of all the seaweed in the water. After my mom got stung in really shallow water, we were all too afraid to go in, so we mostly played in the sand.

While we were at the back one evening, people were setting up for a wedding at sunset. It was so beautiful.

Olivia was excited to have Liam there. She is so incredibly good with him. She kisses him all the time and snuggles with him. It's amazing to see my two children together. I love how he looks for her when he hears her voice.

Olivia has been so interested in drawing lately, and she's amazingly good. She gave me this picture last night of a man with a beard. I think it's pretty incredible for 27 months. He has hands, legs, eyes, a nose, a mouth, ears, a beard, and hair on his head. She pointed out each feature to me.

We finally had the consultation with the surgeon yesterday. Olivia's surgery is scheduled for this coming Monday and I'm terrified. I think what I'm most worried about is Olivia being scared and upset. They won't let us be there when they give her the gas, and I know she'll be terrified when they take her away in the scary looking crib bed. They also won't let us come back with her until she's been awake a little while and I know she'll be freaking out and wondering where I am. For me, that's the worst part of it all. There's a chance my sister will be able to go back with her since she's a nurse. Her friend is head of anthesiology and he was going to try to pull some strings to let my sister be with Olivia. Please pray that she can be there with Olivia.

This weekend is going to be terrible because I'm dreading Monday so much. We have to be there at 6:00 am and she's the first surgery of the day.

Beach Bound

After a crazy last couple weeks, we're going to do something even crazier: take a toddler and a newborn to the beach! Olivia's UTI is much better and the doctor gave us the go ahead to head to the beach to join my parents.

Olivia is super excited and Liam obviously has no clue, but as long as Mommy's boobs are there, he's happy.

We'll be back Sunday night. I'll have pics then! :-)

*My awesome uncle Michael photoshopped the picture of Olivia. They were here visiting last week, and she took one look at the photo and asked me, "why am I wearing Michael's glasses?" I couldn't believe she remembered what they looked like. Lol!

Update on Olivia

Thank you for all your well wishes and concern. Because the slack-off staff ay our pediatrician's office, her surgery consult just got scheduled today for 7/24, which is next Thursday! I was hoping the surgery would be DONE by then. I'm going to try to move it up so the surgery can get done before my mom goes back to work. I'll really need her help the day of the surgery because Olivia loves her so much. James will be there also and the 3 of us can rotate helping Olivia and caring for Liam. We've tried to give him breastmilk in a bottle a few times. He'll take it, but he has a little trouble with it and it takes him forever to drink it.

Poor Olivia wouldn't have been ready for surgery yet this week anyway because she's still not well. They misdiagnosed her with vag-in-itis. I called to tell them the cream wasn't helping and that she was worse, and they said she didn't have it and that her urine culture came back positive for a UTI. Why didn't they call me then?? So we stared her on antibiotics last Friday, and yesterday she was even worse. She wouldn't even sit down because her "peep" hurt her so much, so I called again and they changed her medicine. She seems a little better today. My heart is breaking for her.

I had my post-partum check-up yesterday (not quite 6 weeks, but I scheduled it early b/c I thought Olivia would be having surgery sooner) and everything looks great! I officially swithched my yearly femals care over to my midwife who also does that in addition to delivering. I also got a referral to a dr. to do my bladder surgery. More about that later. Let's just say I've had some accidents that I couldn't control. :-(

I'm trying not to get too stressed out. My hubby and babies keep me happy. I can tell I'm a little down, but I wouldn't say I have pp depression. I'm just emotional and stress out about the health issues Olivia is facing. Another thing making me happy is my cloth diaper obsession. When I first started, I was practical about it and thought people who wanted all colors and patterns were a little nuts since they were just something to poop in, but now I got suckered in. I just sold off some of Liam's newborn diapers since he's a big boy and I've been buying some new ones for him. I got some in the mail yesterday and it was likt Christmas. So cute!!! I'm also expecting a few more packages. In the diaper world, they call it "fluffy mail," something I also thought was corny, but now think it's totally cute. I'll have to post pics of Liam with his big fluffy butt. :-) I have other pictures to share-- like Olivia nursing her dolls- cute!!-- but my laptop is seriously messed up and they are all on there. James is going to fix it this week.

I'll keep you posted on Olivia. I was going to ask for advice on something, but I've gotta go. Olivia just came in with an orange mouth. I asked her what it was, and she said, "I was eating my orange crayon. I pretend it was hot dog." OK, gotta run!

Surgery

I'm devestated. Olivia's lump came back this afternoon, and when I touched it, it popped back in. I knew instantly what it was, a hernia. The doctor confirmed it today (I was able to see Olivia's actual doctor today instead of the one yesterday). She'll have to have surgery in a week or two to correct it. She also has vag-in-itis (didn't want people to find me by googling the word), so really, there are two things going on.

I hate that she has to have surgery at this age. If she was a little older, she'd understand and if she was younger, she wouldn't know enough of what was happening to be scared. She is at an age where she'll be terrified of the doctors and IV, but not understand what or why.

I know it's a routine sugery. I had the same thing when I was little (damn heredity), but my post-partum horomes just can't handle my baby having to have surgery right now. And even worse, I hate myself for resenting Liam because I'm already worried about having to nurse him and be with him when all I want is to be there for Olivia at the hospital and for the few days after. If it was a few months ago, I could devote all my attention to her, and now I can't. I love Liam with all my heart, which is why I feel so guilty for my resentment.

Mystery Diagnosis

Somethings going on with Olivia, but we're not getting any answers. It all started Friday morning when she woke up crying because her "peep" hurt (peep is her girly parts). I changed her morning diaper and she kept crying everytime she peed. I immediately though she had a UTI, so I called the dr. on call (since it was a holiday) and she said maybe it wasn't and to try a warm bath first followed by petroleum jelly. If that didn't work, we were to take her to the pediatric after hours. The bath worked and it didn't hurt her again to pee. I didn't think much else of it other than that she must have had some sort of irritation.

Then, Saturday morning, she woke up crying again that it hurt, and once I changed her diaper, she was fine all day. Sunday was the same thing, except that Sunday night, I found a lump on her "peep" and freaked out thinking it was a hernia since I'd had one there as a little girl and it's hereditary. I called the dr on call again and she said to bring her in this morning, which I did.

This morning, the lump was gone (???) and they couldn't find anything wrong. They don't think it's a UTI, but they're doing a full urine culture and we'll get the results Wed or Thurs. They also prescribed a cream.

I can't figure out what happened to the lump or what it could have been, and I don't know why it would only hurt to pee in the morning. I am so worried about Olivia and my post-partum hormones aren't helping. I'm praying it goes away or we find an answer.

Anyone heard of anything like this?

Men are jerks

My mom went with me and the kids to Target the other day, and while I was stopped looking at something, my mom leaned into Liam's carrier and gave him a big kiss. Olivia saw her and yelled, "Don't kiss him! He's a boy and boys are JEEERRRRKS!" What made it even crazier was the way she said "jerks." She really emphasized it and kind of sang the word. I wanted to laugh, but my first reaction was shock because I couldn't figure out where she'd heard such a thing, and then I remembered. My sister had said men were jerks a few times after she broke up with her boyfriend and after she'd had a few really bad dates. I guess Olivia was listening.